Siheyuan: The Temptation of the Mountains

Lin Ze pinched his fingers without hesitation, muttered something, and instantly performed an extremely exquisite spell. As he danced with his hands, a powerful spiritual power gushed out from his body and gathered directly into the void in front of him.

In the blink of an eye, the void began to tremble violently, and then a huge column of water appeared out of thin air and rushed towards the surging herd of beasts with the force of thunder.

At the same time, Su Yao, who was standing nearby, also reacted quickly. She shouted softly, waved her jade hand, and a ball of blazing flames flew toward the beasts. This ball of flame was like a lively fire dragon, pouncing on the giant beasts with its fangs and claws bared.

Under the dual attack of water and fire, the beasts that were originally so aggressive suddenly fell into chaos. They were enveloped by the power of water and fire. Some were pushed back by the impact of the water column, while others were burned by the flames and screamed.

After a fierce battle, the beasts finally couldn't withstand the joint attack of Lin Ze and Su Yao, and began to retreat. Although the larger and stronger beasts wanted to fight back, they could only turn around and flee the battlefield helplessly in the face of the tacit cooperation of the two.

Seeing the last giant beast fleeing away in disgrace, Lin Ze and Su Yao finally breathed a sigh of relief. They looked at each other and found that they were all covered with wounds of varying sizes, ragged clothes, and in a miserable state. However, despite this, both of them showed a relieved smile on their faces.

Lin Ze said to Su Yao with a wry smile: "It was really dangerous this time, luckily you are here." Su Yao rolled her eyes at him and said, "You only know how to say nice things." At this moment, the space around them suddenly distorted, and a buzzing sound came into their ears.

They looked around warily, only to see a mysterious portal slowly opening. An old man in a black robe walked out of it, looking at them coldly.

"You have destroyed the balance here and disturbed the herd of divine beasts." The old man's voice was low and hoarse.

Lin Ze took a step forward with a solemn expression and quickly explained, "Senior, please be wise! We really only fought back in self-defense. Those huge and ferocious beasts launched a crazy attack on us for no reason. If we hadn't fought desperately, I'm afraid we would have died by now!"

However, the old man was unmoved. He snorted coldly and said, "Stop talking nonsense! No matter what, both of you must come with me today!"

Su Yao, who was standing aside, heard this and clenched her fists in anger. She asked with her eyes wide open: "What if we don't want to go with you?" The old man's eyes flashed with deep disdain, and then he casually raised his hand and waved it gently. In an instant, an extremely strong force swept towards Lin Ze and Su Yao like a surging wave. Seeing this, Lin Ze and Su Yao did not dare to neglect it at all, and hurriedly used their whole body strength to resist. But even so, the two still couldn't resist the impact of this powerful force. They only heard a muffled "bang" and were both shaken back several steps away, and their blood and qi in their bodies surged.

Just when they were filled with despair and thought that they were powerless, suddenly, a dazzling light burst out from Lin Ze's arms. Then, a crystal clear jade pendant shot out like lightning and steadily blocked the terrifying force. With a crisp and pleasant collision sound, the jade pendant successfully blocked the old man's fierce attack.

Seeing this scene, the originally calm old man was shocked and shouted in astonishment: "This... this is actually the token of our sect leader! Where did you get it from?"

Lin Ze was also at a loss at this time. He stared blankly at the jade pendant floating in the air and emitting a mysterious light, thinking to himself: "What is the origin of this jade pendant? Why can it save our lives at the critical moment? Is there some unknown secret or coincidence hidden in it? In any case, it seems to be the key to our turning the situation around."

Thinking of this, Lin Ze's eyes gradually brightened.

Lin Ze calmed down, looked at the old man and said, "To be honest, I got this jade pendant by chance, and I don't know its origin. But since it is a token of your sect leader, please let us go for the sake of this thing."

The old man frowned, his eyes fixed on the jade pendant, as if he was thinking about something.

After a moment, he slowly said, "Forget it, I will let you go today. However, the matter of the jade pendant must be kept secret. If anyone asks about it in the future, you must not mention it at all."

Lin Ze and Su Yao nodded in agreement, their faces full of awe. They watched the mysterious old man slowly turn around and leave until his tall figure completely disappeared from their sight.

After the old man left, Lin Ze carefully reached out his hand and gently picked up the jade pendant. He frowned slightly and stared at the jade pendant in his hand, as if he wanted to see the secret hidden in it through its surface.

Seeing this, Su Yao, who was standing by, also came over curiously. She lowered her voice and asked with a little worry, "What should we do with this thing now? I always feel like we've gotten into a huge trouble because of it..."

Lin Ze held the jade pendant tightly, feeling the slight coolness coming from it, with a determined light in his eyes.

He took a deep breath and said slowly: "No matter what, this jade pendant has saved our lives twice, so it must have extraordinary significance. Perhaps as long as we follow this clue, we may be able to uncover some unknown mysteries and improve our own strength. Instead of being bullied like now, we might as well give it a try!"

After hearing what Lin Ze said, Su Yao was still a little nervous, but she nodded to show her agreement.

So, the two of them looked at each other and walked towards the distance tacitly.

Their footsteps were light and swift, and they soon disappeared into the dense woods, leaving only the trampled and messy grass behind them as a witness to their departure.

Lin Ze and Su Yao walked all the way and came to an ancient city. The city was bustling with people. After they found an inn to stay in, they began to ask around for news about the jade pendant.

One day, they heard that there was an old scholar in the city who was well-versed in all kinds of rare treasures, so they hurried to visit him.